flux_theoremfandomcom-20200213-history
Bandits
After Dethrone, several civilians evacuated to the surrounding suburbs and countrysides of their various cities across the earth. Many banded together for survival and turned to a simple, hard-working agricultural lifestyle, constructing small respectable settlements wherever possible. Others, however, preferred to survive off the labors of others, and formed loosely organized gangs with the sole purpose of looting and stealing. North American Slavic Bandits Prior to the Second Schism, the New Union was often met with a particularly strong Bandit presence in the north-east USA as they expanded their control in the region, and these held true in territories as far as the former state of Missouri. They soon discovered patterns among the most commonly encountered bandits, eventually gaining some information on the particular groups they encountered. Some regional locals told the New Union of an initiative set forth by the former Administrator of C33 to import several non-English speaking citizens (especially ones with minor criminal records) from Eastern Europe to North America in order to force a language barrier between the populace, keeping them divided and ideally lowering organized rebellious activity. While general resistance activity in C33 was in fact minimal, the citizen on citizen crime was rampant. Citizens became strictly divided into lingual and cultural lines and were forced to form gangs within the city just for their own survival. A slightly biased retelling of the events in C33 claims that the Eastern Europeans, suddenly thrown into a foreign land, were more prone to violence and hostility. Nobody really asked the Easterners for their side yet, mostly because they never afforded anyone the chance. After Dethrone, the English speakers diverged all over the continent in seek of a new start. A significant portion of the various Slavic language speakers found themselves unable to break away from their gang life and began to stick together continuing the tradition of wreaking havoc on everything that was foreign around them. While the North American bandit group doesn't unify under any one flag or banner, being composed of several small sects with one leader, they are united by their similar languages and backgrounds. Slavic bandits are usually armed with the AK-47 and it's variants, sometimes carrying a PKM heavy machine gun, Dragonuv, or RPG-7. Their attire consists of leather trench coats, scavenged Kevlar vests, and ski masks or Balaclavas. In the year 2024, the Slavic bandit group seems to have fallen far from its former prominence. Due to New Union combative efforts pre and post Second Schism, as well as some of the Second Schism's natural aftermath, the Slavic Bandit group has come to be nearly nonexistent, either disbanded altogether or migrated away from both Concord and New Union territories. Former City 33 Convicts While a majority of the convicts released during the Fall of City 33 are believed to have fallen in with the Norguard Confederacy, a sizable number maintained their Independence by scavenging or stealing high-level New Union equipment lost or abandoned in the fighting after the Second Schism. Dozens of small gangs broke into the continent, armed with various New Union supplies and specifically PBFF firearm variants. While by no means organized or rallied under any one particular purpose, these small, well-armed gangs were capable of severe damage to conventionally armed, neutral settlements. For a time, they seemed unstoppable, with no major military power left in the region to oppose them, hitting settlement after settlement, traveler after traveler, until they gained enough notoriety for the Bridge Runners to wage a small war with the bandit groups. Once the Bridge Runners pursued several of the groups into retreat or hiding, many of them disbanded or died, due to harsh climate conditions, infighting, and other occurrences. However, the Bridge Runners were by no means able to find and hunt down every last group, and several of these absurdly well-armed pockets of bandits still roam North America making a living the only way they know-how. Midwest Oil Pirates In the most inhospitable portions of North America, such as the Rend, a majority of pre-war sites stand virtually untouched, as many typical scavengers refuse to delve into these areas. In the West and Midwest, many of these sites contained gasoline and oil, which in the years after Dethrone was extremely rare, and thus quite valuable. Along with other high-risk high-reward scavenger groups, a specific band of those interested in only Oil reserves were formed. While not every separate band of oil hunters was particularly hostile or criminal, many naturally became this way, as the harshness of the Rend was typically reflected in those who inhabited it. More often than not, there was nothing these Pirates weren't above doing, so long as they could secure their haul and bring it back to the highest bidder. Storm Riders The Storm Riders formed relatively recently, in the vacuum created by the New Union's withdrawal after the Second Schism and the decline of several other bandit factions. They claimed the central region of the Rend as their own. True to their name, they often launched their raids on settlements during radiation storms, as well as normal storms, in order to catch their targets off balance.